On September 4, 2019, Ryan Cleckner was invited on Fox’s Outnumbered Overtime with Harris Faulkner to discuss Walmart’s request that customers no longer openly carry firearms in their store and their decision to halt certain ammunition sales.
During the segment (below), Ryan points out that Walmart, as a business, is free to sell (or not sell) whichever products it wants. However, their decision is not going to improve safety. In fact, their decision makes them more likely to have a shooting: “If you want your establishment to be a potential target for a mass shooting, make it a gun-free zone.”
Ryan added that his problem with Walmart’s decision is not that they’ve made the decision they have, he respects that they have a belief and they’re following through on it, his problem is that they are making everyone less safe and doing it in the name of “safety.” He argues that banning this type of activity will only change the behavior of law abiding people and will be just as effective as posting a “no shoplifting” sign: nobody’s behavior will change. Those that won’t shoplift anyway will respect the sign and those that will shoplift won’t respect the sign.
Ryan also brought up an angle that hasn’t been discussed before: Walmart may have a business motivation to stop these ammunition sales. He questioned why Walmart isn’t following through with their ammunition sales ban all the way – why are they only stopping selling certain calibers and only after they’ve run out of their current inventory? Ryan argues that Walmart is only stopping the sales of the lowest margin calibers, for every retailer, where Walmart is already the lowest of available prices – effectively Walmart can not make money on these calibers.
Also, stopping in the name of “safety” but continuing to sell until you run out of inventory is disingenuous. “If selling a bullet is evil, then why are you waking up tomorrow and selling a bullet?”
According to Ryan, Walmart, or any other business is free to do what they choose. It would be unfair to say “You don’t have to bake that cake but you do need to sell that bullet.” However, own your decision and don’t blame it on “safety.”
It is popular to be anti-gun now. “Look how fast we went from ‘nobody’s taking your guns’ to ‘absolutely we’re taking your guns.’ It’s an emotional decision that is popular with people that don’t understand the issue.”